Conquest of the Horde

What is this guide for? This guide is designed to put together a basic overview of the DK quest chain from Retail so that people who have not played through it, or are not able to, can understand the basic idea of what these guys did. It also is designed to go over the basic lore information of DKs that we learn in this chain, and information that we learned from other sources.

So let's just get started, shall we?

The Quest Chain

Upon making a DK, you are shown the intro cinematic, from which you are given the basic exposition...you were once a hero of your race, but presumably fell in battle against the Scourge. Your defeat led to you becoming a Death Knight, a thrall to the Lich King's will. After this exposition, you are dumped into your character's shoes, in Archerus, right before the Lich King himself.

You are given an opening speech by the Lich King where he tells you that you are one of his chosen champions, yadda yadda. After accepting the first quest you hear this speech spoken in your head. Better get used to it, as he'll be making comments to you through-out the rest of the quest chain. Anyway, you're ushered off to make your very own runeblade...which ends up being nothing more than snagging a battle-worn sword off of a rack and placing some runes on it at the nearby runeforge.

You are then given the chance to test your new two-handed sword. It's explained that you are subject to "the endless hunger", that you'll feel unimaginable pain, and the only way to sate this hunger is to kill. You are then given the opportunity to slay one of the unworthy initiates within Acherus, who fights back with the desire to prove themselves worthy again by slaying you instead.

Once you complete this task, your next is to spy upon the town of New Avalon below Acherus, where the Scarlet Crusade holds sway. To keep this brief, you use the magic of Acherus to see the buildings below, then you are sent down to fight the Crusaders yourself. To keep the next series of quests brief, you are sent mostly to kill the Crusaders, slay the fleeing peasants, and to steal a horse which will be used to make your Deathcharger. You also are sent to salvage Saronite arrows, and given the exposition that the metal comes from Northrend and thus is valuable.

These quests mostly follow that sort of style, so from now on I'll only cover the more unusual ones. You are, for example, told to spread plague onto the Scarlets and make ghouls for the Scourge, and you have to enter the world of Shadows to tame your Deathcharger. Through-out this, you are given quests that lead to information about the Scarlet Crusade, the new Scarlet Onslaught, and the Crimson Dawn (including one quest where you dual-wield two hot pokers and torture the information out of the Scarlets that you fight.) You also get to set up a plague cauldron.

As these shinanegans continue, you also get to meet some of the more noteworthy DKs that you'll recognize later. One will send you on a quest to rescue another DK from the Scarlets, behavior that even the other DKs comment as being far too nice for what they are now. After this, you are given the infamous quest "A Special Surprise", in which you are sent to slay one of the prisoners, who just happens to have been a close friend of yours once and a member of your race, and pleads with you to fight the Lich King's control. After this they tell you to put them out of their misery, which you are compelled to do. You're then given the chilling lines at the end by the quest giver, "Felt good, didn't it? You're not one of them anymore. You're Scourge. You're one of us. Forever..."

Soon after this, slaying more Scarlets, you're finally given the quest to finish your time under the Scourge, the battle at Light's Hope Chapel. Following behind Mograine, you fight the Argent Dawn and their allies at Light's Hope, all the while Mograine (holding the corrupted Ashbringer) gets increasingly frustrated at his lack of ability to fight, as the holy ground is weakening him. Soon he is weakened, and some dialogue ensues between him and Fordring. The Lich King himself then appears, saying that this was all an attempt to get Fordring out in the open where he can be slain, and the Death Knights were pawns to be thrown away to this end. After knocking Mograine aside, he nearly defeats Fordring. Then, at the last moment, Mograine tosses the Ashbringer to the paladin, who purifies it and uses it to land a powerful blow on the Lich King. He flees, commenting that next they meet, it won't be on holy ground.

After this, you are given the final quests. You clear out the remaining Scourge in Acherus, and then you are sent with a letter to the leader of our old faction, either Wrynn or Thrall. The people of Stormwind/Orgrimmar throw rotten fruit at you as you pass, and hurl insults, until you finally throw yourself at the mercy of your leader, who eventually accepts you once more.

More to come in the next post!

What does all of that mean?

As far as lore and RP goes, these quests introduce a lot of concepts to us about what DKs really are and how they act. So, let's see the implications of what was just given to us.

Free Will and Personality

It's expressly stated several times that the Death Knights did not have a will of their own, at least not completely. Their purpose was to serve the Lich King, and they could not act contrary to his wishes, at least not without a great deal of effort on their part (as Mograine was able to break free, though it took a vision of his father to do so.) DKs certainly weren't in complete control of themselves during their time under the Scourge.

That said, they often retained bits and pieces of their personality during their time there. Many varied, and even one or two showed the desire to do what was right to their own, even if it was brotherhood in darkness. Regardless, almost all of them were twisted in some way, and it's not hard to see why, looking deeper at what happened to them. DKs had no souls during their time under the Scourge, though it's implied they regained them upon being freed. It's also likely that DKs remembered their time under the Scourge perfectly. Unlike the Forsaken, who were mindless undead, the DKs had at least some measure of thought.

The Hunger

The hunger is something that is mentioned near the very beginning of the chain. It's not said how strong the hunger continues to grip DKs who have broken free, but the implication is the same...the only way it can be fed is through inflicting pain and death, and no DK is entirely immune to its effects. It may be able to be resisted, but never completely ignored.

It's important to take this into account. A Death Knight is aptly named. Death is what they do, it's what they were created for, and the very best a DK can hope for is to channel that hunger towards a positive end or attempt to fight it. In either case, the effects this has on a DK's mind is obvious.

The Mental Scars

Obviously, DKs aren't entirely evil. The Ebon Blade seeks to destroy the Scourge and fight with their old factions once more. However, DKs aren't what they once were. Mograine himself is a cold zealot who will destroy the Lich King at any cost, including the lives of himself and every man under his command.

The time under the Scourge would be enough to scar the mind of anyone. DKs are, after all, men and women who have been violated emotionally, physically, and mentally. The Lich King constantly whispered in their ears, encouraging their destructive tendencies, while the Scourge tore them down emotionally, telling and showing them that they are Scourge, not what they once were. Obviously this causes DKs to put emphasis on many negative emotions, bending them towards revenge and depression, especially when combined with the effects of the hunger and the memories of what they did under the Lich King's command.

Are DKs dead?

According to one of the very recent RPG books, the ritual that turns one into a Death Knight does not, ironically involve dying. It's generally assumed on Live that this generation of Death Knights died, but that doesn't really mean they are fully undead, nor fully alive. It's open to interpretation, and generally I prefer to leave it that way and let people decide on their own if their DK is living (at least partially) or dead.

Mass Production

There is one major implication put in at the very end, though it's hinted at through-out the chain. The Death Knights are mass-produced, they were created from whoever was suitable. DKs were the elite level of the Scourge, but even they were ultimately fodder, and many of them died in the battle to take New Avalon.

This has many implications on just who can become a DK or not. Anyone who died against the Scourge would have been a possible victim, which makes races like the Draenei and Tauren far more likely than what they would initially appear.

The Three Paths

Though it's only glazed over in the quest chain, on Retail you can watch the three trainers talk to the acolytes in Acherus about the many powers the Death Knights possess. In general, the three paths can be described as such:

Blood: Focuses mostly on vampiric style attacks and raw brute force. Blood is generally the most physical of the DK specs, and one of the hardest to defeat because they feed off of your suffering.
Frost: Focuses mostly on control and dual-wielding. Frost also has a lot of frost damage in it, duh. Frost DKs mostly focus on keeping enemies off-balance and deciding how the fight is done.
Unholy: Focuses mostly on magic damage and the creation of undead beings. Unholy DKs are also the type that has the best resistance to magical attacks, what with Anti-magic shells and the like, and can move the fastest.

That's enough for now. Comments?

Way to steal my idea for a guide.. >.<

Overall, very good guide, but you could perhaps add to the Unholy part that other than magic, Death Knights also tend to use a variety of plagues and whatnot. They're pretty much just lowbie Necromancers, in other words.

PiesOfGod Wrote:Way to steal my idea for a guide.. >.<

Overall, very good guide, but you could perhaps add to the Unholy part that other than magic, Death Knights also tend to use a variety of plagues and whatnot. They're pretty much just lowbie Necromancers, in other words.

True. Diseases are kind of the DK mechanic, though I mostly wanted to focus on what you learn about DKs from retail. This wasn't designed to replace your guide, more add on to it.

Yeah, I know. I was being all sarcastic'n'stuff. :3

EDIT: I should've put the [sarcasm][/sarcasm] symbols. :S

Suffice to say, I'm loving this. You went and condensed a lot of information that was up in the air into a decent, solid read. I'm just skimming through this at work (well, work experience, but it's the same thing) and I'll have to give it a more in-depth look later, but what I have read so far is brilliant.

I particularly like the summary of the Retail storyline, which could come in very handy, seeing as a couple of us here on the server apparently haven't had the opportunity to experience it first-hand. It certainly jogged my memory, at least. ^^

Anyway, if you're thinking of writing more, then keep up the good work!

Well that's it I'm rolling a death knight.

I really shouldn't go on CotH just before school . . . but you always give me great ideas for woolgathering.

Well, this and that other guide of PiesOfGod convinced me to roll a Death Knight. Still a bit unsure on the race though... Curse you and your persuasion.

Sheppard Wrote:Well, this and that other guide of PiesOfGod convinced me to roll a Death Knight. Still a bit unsure on the race though... Curse you and your persuasion.

Make it a race people tend not to use.

On-Topic: Excellent guide. *Wishing he was a grunt.* I am not being jealous, I am not being jealous... DAMNIT PIES AND GRAKOR!

Oh, oh! I have a comment, I have a comment! What about the thing that people do... the whole "WELL THIS RACE CAN'T BE A DK BECAUSE BLAH BLAH BLAH!"? Could that somehow be incorporated?

All things said and done, any race can become a Death Knight. Although, I'm not to sure on playing a DK that was turned from the Scourge AFTER the battle for Light's Hope Chapel. I know they exist and whatnot.. Just not sure on race restrictions regarding them.

They exist, but I don't think we let people play 'em. I could be wrong though.

Well, based on the fact that I've never actually seen someone play a just-fresh initiate, I would say either it's unpopular or simply not allowed. Either way, we're all 3rd Gen here.

I'm 4th Gen...
ANNYYYYYWAYY! I would say it's frowned upon by most RP Servers (Did a Quick scan of the net).

Is it allowed to play a death knight that is recently (killed) and raised by another Death Knight?

To what extend do Dk's have feelings? Obviously they know hatred, depression, anger, wicked joy and stuff like that. But what about the more positive feelings like compassion, admiration, mercy and perhaps even love?

And if your want to roll an original Dk, Tauren DK ftw, I think you'l be server first.